Agricultural wheel assembies and pneumatic tires therefore are presently known in the art. At the present time, agricultural wheel assemblies are constructed and assembled from metal wheel halves or nylon plastic wheel halves along with various configurations of agricultural tires for press wheel and gauge wheel applications. Press wheels are generally situated behind a planter's drill head for pressing the soil down over newly planted seeds. This requires a flexible tire. Gauge wheels are used on planters and grain drills for regulating the soil penetration depth of the opener blades and require a flexible tire tread. When deep cup wheel assemblies are used, a special bulldozing problem results when soil builds up in front of and on the deep cup wheel assemblies, characteristic of present day metal wheels, causing the wheel to slow down.
Another planting problem that results from the current design and construction of agricultural wheel assemblies is plant emergence variability. Soil builds up on the deep cup of the current agricultural wheel assembly and as the wheel turns, the accumulated soil is thrown to the adjacent row. This process is known as "Rooster Tailing". Since the adjacent row has either been previously planted or drilled, the excess soil thrown thereon causes seed-to-soil contact variability. A new study released by Purdue University indicates that seed-to-soil contact variability can result in plant emergence variability, delayed germination or no plant penetration, causing a reduction in crop yields by 6% to 22%.
In addition to the soil build up occuring on the wheel assembly, soil accumulates on the crop planter. As a result, efficiency and productivity of the planter can be adversely affected
Air pollution is another problem caused by the current agricultural wheel assemblies. As the soil is thrown into the air with each revolution of the wheel, herbicides and insecticides applied by the farmers on their fields become airborne as well. This not only contaminates the air, but increases the amount of herbicides and insecticides used by the farmers to replace what has blown away. This action also contributes to top soil erosion which occurs naturally from the winds.
With the introduction of all nylon wheel assemblies, the Rooster Tailing and the problems resulting therefrom have been substantially eliminated. The nylon wheels do not permit the soil to build up on them, thereby reducing the risk of seed-to-soil contact variability, planter inefficiency, air pollution and increased herbicide and insecticide costs. The nylon wheel are formed with shallow cups to overcome these aforementioned problems and are preferred by the farmers and for the environment. At the present time there is no known two piece wheel solution to the "Rooster Tailing" problems associated with 41/2 inches by 16 inches gauge wheels used on row crop planters and grain drills. In these applications the front wheels are commonly mounted at an angle to the direction of movement of the planter and the all plastic wheel does not have sufficient structural integrity for use in these applications. In addition, an agricultural tire mounted on the wheel assemblies are always under side pressure and may result in dirt infiltration under the tire and create a premature failure of the wheel assembly. This may occur when the machinery is used on a hillside or turns in a field. Therefore,there is a present day need for an improved wheel assembly and tire for use on row crop planters and minimum tillage grain drills that avoids the aforementioned problems.